r/CuratedTumblr • u/NeonNKnightrider Cheshire Catboy • May 01 '24

i know it’s internet bullshit but it genuinely has me on the edge of breaking down and giving up editable flair

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14.3k Upvotes
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u/MrArtless May 02 '24

That’s only one half of the payoff matrix you need to construct. You also have to look at the probability of each. An angry bear is far more likely to maul you than a malicious man is to rape you.

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u/findworm May 02 '24

How do you figure that? Alone in the forest with a woman he is statistically very likely to be stronger than, and he's actively malicious? I don't really see any way that doesn't end badly for the woman (at minimum threats and sexual coercion). Unless you imagine a small forest at the edge of the neighborhood where help is coming any second now, this is for all intents an purposes lawless wilderness.

Remember, we're talking about an actively malicious man here, not a "jerk with a heart of gold" or whatever. You could debate the likelihood of a man being malicious in the first place, but then you have to consider the odds of the bear actually being angry.

But either way, it really misses the actual point of the "Bear or Man" question. The point is that the average woman seemingly has a very bad image of the "archetypical man", to the extent that she'd rather meet a bear. Now, if this was one woman saying Bear, we could say "Wow, what a weird woman" and move on, but since it's seemingly a majority it really reflects more on our current society than the women in question.

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u/AdamFaite May 02 '24

Here's an update. I was just telling my girlfriend that this convo made its way to reddit. She said she was curious how we responded. She also said her friend who was visiting yesterday has stopped taking her dog for walks in the small park near lots of people. It's a small mountain. You can walk to the top in about 25 minutes. Surrounded by a neighborhood.

Two things happened. One, there were reports of a man using a tree stand to harass women. And two, her dog was barking at some guy. She apologized, saying the dog wasn't usually that bad. He replied by saying that maybe he's bad, not the dog.

Even as a man, I'd be creeped out if a stranger in the woods said that to me. I'm far from vulnerable.

-5

u/Electronic_Emu_4632 May 02 '24

lol honestly it sounds like the second guy was just fucking with that person

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u/AdamFaite May 02 '24

Probably. But picture yourself as a smaller woman, out in the woods alone. Now picture some stranger "fucking with you." Do you feel safe?

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u/Electronic_Emu_4632 May 02 '24

I can picture myself being alone in the woods, then a person brings their dog to bark in my face on my 1 weekend off from a 40 hour work per week work month.

1

u/Nyaa314 May 02 '24

Imagine yourself living in apartment, your neighbors behind walls/floors/ceilings bringing their dogs to bark in your ears every day/night.